Critics seem to hate movies based on kid's cartoons..

[Woodsey]

It's because they're shit.

It's not because they're based on kids cartoons, they're just bad movies. If they think it's a good movie they'll say so.

But an adults standard of 'bad' is somewhat different from a child's, and the children are the target audience.

It'd be like me rating how fun I find a Barbie doll to play with.

So? Plenty of kids films meet a great critical reception, so it's not like they're holding them to some unattainable standard.

*shrugs*

The point I guess I am making is: If the kids like it, then it's served it's purpose. It doesn't really matter if they don't like it, as it's not made for them.

I'm sure parents are grateful to know what stuff is bearable to sit through at the cinema.

 

[Gatx]

Generally they are pretty bad. I personally love the Pokemon movies, all of them. But usually only for their much more elaborate and detailed settings (the animators actually put a lot of work into that stuff), and the fact that Team Rocket isn't serving as the central antagonist to whatever is going on like they did on an episode by episode basis in the show.

Spoiler: Also recently found out this existed

Holy crap adds a lot to the movie. If you have this, keep Mew's original slightly more dark intentions (yes, that's Mew and not Mewtwo), and remove the "fighting is bad" morality that was shoved in with the dub, it becomes a story about the nature of life and the morality of cloning. Though the crying thing still comes out of nowhere though.

 

[Souplex]

Because other than the Transformers movie, all of the ones you mentioned were awful.

 

[Lilani]

So I was reading some reviews on films that were based on children's cartoons, such as Transformers: The Movie, Yugioh the Movie, Digimon the movie, and a few of the Pokemon movies, and they all seemed to get bad reviews from the critics.

Now why is that? Are they biased against it because they never saw the series themselves, and therefore do not understand the movie itself?

Are there any ones that actually performed well?

Well the problem here is based on cinematic standards, those films sucked. Transformers sucked, Digimon was terribly paced, the Pokemon movies could only really be understood by people who already knew what Pokemon were, and I can't speak for the Yu Gi Oh movie but I heard it sucked too. Your argument might hold some water if any of those examples didn't suck, but I'm afraid they do.

That doesn't mean you have any reason to not enjoy them as much as you already do (or don't). It just means by the standards of filmmaking, they simply aren't well executed. And you'll find most things from your childhood that you love are like that. They push no envelopes artistically, but you love them anyway.

 

[Discordius Erisianus]

So I was reading some reviews on films that were based on children's cartoons, such as Transformers: The Movie, Yugioh the Movie, Digimon the movie, and a few of the Pokemon movies, and they all seemed to get bad reviews from the critics.

Now why is that? Are they biased against it because they never saw the series themselves, and therefore do not understand the movie itself?

Are there any ones that actually performed well?

Digimon the Movie is a chimera of three different movies each of them linked to a 50 episode television series. The idiotic way it was put together really absolves anyone for hating it. The 3 movies were good enough in their own context, but when you edit them together, they don't work. And you thought the American dub had done enough harm to the series.

In the case of Pokemon the Movie, I think the Nostalgia Critic (the only critic I remember reviewing it)went too harsh on it. I will assume most critics from the 2007 internet critic boom are around 30, which means they really didn't watch Pokemon nor Digimon as they grew up. And Doug Walker admitted to it. I find they are more often than not biased against Japanese products, and they have a soft spot for 80'ies stuff.

Transformers though, is just bad. Even the director doesn't like it. People who watched the animated series don't like it. It seems only children of today like it, and yet the story focuses on a high shooler trying to get laid. Doesn't seem like it was made for children.

 

[Myndnix]

So I was reading some reviews on films that were based on children's cartoons, such as Transformers: The Movie, Yugioh the Movie, Digimon the movie, and a few of the Pokemon movies, and they all seemed to get bad reviews from the critics.

Now why is that? Are they biased against it because they never saw the series themselves, and therefore do not understand the movie itself?

Are there any ones that actually performed well?

Well, for a start, all of those except Transformers are anime, not technically cartoons.
Plus, most of them sucked anyway. Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon were never good, even as TV series, and the Digimon 'movie' was a mashup of three TV specials. Believe me, they made much more sense in Japanese when they weren't all weakly connected.

 

[gigastar]

With the benefit of age and cynicism, i think the Teen Titans movie was at least not shit.

Everything else keeps getting worse the more i recall of them.

 

[HardkorSB]

But an adults standard of 'bad' is somewhat different from a child's, and the children are the target audience.

It'd be like me rating how fun I find a Barbie doll to play with.

A movie that an only be enjoyed if you're young and ignorant is not a good movie.
Some children's movie makers seem to think that since their audience are just kids, the quality of everything can be lower, that you can just dangle your keys in front of a child and that qualifies as children's entertainment. That's how we get shit like "Cats and Dogs" or "Baby Geniuses".
I like kids movies that don't treat them like dumber versions of adults. I know that a lot of adults like to think that that is the case but that's just their ignorance.

 

[Nadia Castle]

Rugrats the movie was fairly well received by the critics. The problem isn't adults not getting things that were made for children, but that film studios turn everything they touch that was once beloved into s**t. I thank god daily that Marvel just decided to make movies themselves before a leech like Micheal Bay or Brent Ratner decided that the avengers had to stand around doing bugger all whilst the US military fills up 90% of the screen.

Also remember that 99% of movies adapted from kids TV were just 30 minuet commercials, love projects like the Cartoon Cartoons didn't have enough mass appeal to get to the big screen or bombed when they did (Who even remembers the Powerpuff girls movie?)

EDIT: Spongebob Squarepants the movie also received a decent reception, well deserved too, it was easily a better adaptation that The Simpsons Movie.

 

[lord.jeff]

Well, for a start, all of those except Transformers are anime, not technically cartoons.

How are they not cartoons? being from another country doesn't change what they are. All those movies sucked you should of used the animated Batman movies as your point, which was well liked almost all around.

 

[Myndnix]

Well, for a start, all of those except Transformers are anime, not technically cartoons.

How are they not cartoons? being from another country doesn't change what they are. All those movies sucked you should of used the animated Batman movies as your point, which was well liked almost all around.

Technically, the word cartoon refers to unrealistic drawing, paintings, or animation intended for humour. Unless it's a comedic anime, it doesn't really fall under that definition.
That's also why Batman: The Animated Series is not called Batman: The Cartoon. Because it's not a cartoon by definition.

And someone already made the Mask of the Phantasm point.

 

[dfphetteplace]

The movies you listed are terrible. That is why people say they are terrible. No one over the age of 20 would care about them, except maybe the Pokemon movie (which I still think is terrible, but that is just my opinion. A lot of people seem to like it).

 

[The_Echo]

It's probably because they actually are bad.

However, I will say that I love Digimon: The Movie. Even the DigiRap.

[small]... OK maybe not the DigiRap.[/small]

 

[Discordius Erisianus]

It's probably because they actually are bad.

However, I will say that I love Digimon: The Movie. Even the DigiRap.

[small]... OK maybe not the DigiRap.[/small]

You can't unsay it.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

From an adult or a kid's perspective most of those movies suck. I remember being so disappointed when I saw them in the cinema. That feeling has not improved with age.

Sure, some kid's cartoons are incredibly good, like Avatar or Batman: TAS, but the movies are rarely anything special. Pokemon the First Movie was drek of the highest order and even as a 9 year old who loved Pokemon I knew that.

So while critics may be unfairly biased (I tend to think almost all traditional critics are biased against children's animation regardless of quality) that doesn't necessarily mean everything they condemn is secretly good.

 

[AdumbroDeus]

Movies based on kid's cartoons tend to suck. That's why they get bad reviews.

This thread was already over with this. Frankly none of the examples the OP mentioned were even remotely good movies.


There are a few exceptions, but they're rare since most are intended for kids, and everyone knows that kids don't know anything about quality, they'll watch anything (yet the movies from the Disney renaissance are remembered and make piles of money even today).

 

[Karelwolfpup]

I think that mostly such films are made to the usual idea that A: kids are morons who only find farts entertaining B: since kids are morons we have no need to use anything but cliche's and cultural references and don't have to bother with using the material and established lore to create a compelling story.

I think that is the main problem with most kids movies.

 

[Pipotchi]

I still think the Original Transformers movie is awesome, it might be nostalgia and I fully accept its a 90 minute toy advert.

However Unicron, Megatron becoming Galvatron, that bit where Megatron gets on the shuttle and Wastes those autobrats, Stan Bush singing Dare and The Touch, "two shall stand, One shall fall etc

In fact I'm going watch it right now!

 

[Dr. Cakey]

Because they remove their nostalgia goggles. I re-watched Pokemon the first movie and couldn't stomach to finish it. It was horrible. I've already forgotten about the show (Had a brief one year run with it when I was 11) and I was looking for movies my little brother could watch.

But...but Mewtwo...

When I was a kid, I was majorly into the destruction of humanity for unknown reasons, so with Mewtwo it was just like *brofist*

Does Bionicle count? I'm pretty sure there was a miniseries that aired and there were four movies. Assuming it would count, several of the bionicle movies were given fine ratings by critics although the strengths and weaknesses of their filmed changed between movies. Sometimes it was too story heavy, too little action, things like that but I enjoyed the movies I actually saw. Unfortunately most of them were straight to video or dvd.

There were three movies from 2003-2005 and another one in...2008, I think. By around that time I wasn't paying nearly as much attention to Bionicle then. I don't know how they did with reviews, but I think Mask of Light won a couple of minor awards in animation and such.

Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui I actually watched three or four months ago. It was a bit painful to watch, as the voice-acting was stilted, and the commitment to lack of violence gets REALLY obvious (even when I was a kid). I swear that movie had less fighting than the first one. I'd like to watch Mask of Light again, and I think I even still own it...on VHS. I bet it's on Youtube or something like that.

If I'm going churn out an essay on this, I might as well mention the other two movies. Bionicle 3: Web of Shadows was clearly the turning point, seeing as LEGO didn't commission any more movies. It took the most liberties with the source material - Sidorak was Saturday-morning cartoons-level stupid and I'm pretty sure Roodaka was sleeping with a couple of characters, which I'm pretty sure, no actually I'm certain is physically impossible.

And Bionicle: The Legend Reborn took all my hopes and dreams and stabbed through the heart while making me watch. It did have Michael Dorn and Armin Shimerman in it - no, seriously, Worf and Quark were voices in this movie. Which I think makes DS9 obligated to watch it...

Generally they are pretty bad. I personally love the Pokemon movies, all of them. But usually only for their much more elaborate and detailed settings (the animators actually put a lot of work into that stuff), and the fact that Team Rocket isn't serving as the central antagonist to whatever is going on like they did on an episode by episode basis in the show.

I definitely agree. Let's see, I saw 1, 2, 3, 4, Jirachi Wish Maker and Destiny Deoxys (thank you, Netflix). I, too, recently saw 1. When I was a kid my favorite was 2000, so I wanted to see that again. The more recent movies seem to have gotten worse - maybe it was just Wish Maker and Deoxys that sucked, but I read a synopsis for Arceus and the Jewel of Life and I died a little inside.

Spoiler: Also recently found out this existed

[youtube]i1a34c65YxY[/youtube]

Holy crap adds a lot to the movie. If you have this, keep Mew's original slightly more dark intentions (yes, that's Mew and not Mewtwo), and remove the "fighting is bad" morality that was shoved in with the dub, it becomes a story about the nature of life and the morality of cloning. Though the crying thing still comes out of nowhere though.

A bunch of the Pokemon movies have bizarre endings. I mulled it over for a while, and I think I came up with a reason why: there was a very influential anime that had strange ending...

Nothing can escape its grasp...

Plus, most of them sucked anyway. Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon were never good, even as TV series, and the Digimon 'movie' was a mashup of three TV specials. Believe me, they made much more sense in Japanese when they weren't all weakly connected.

Bro, bro, bro, bro. Bro. Bro. Bro.

Bro.

Okay, you might be right, but still. Bro.

Now Pyramid of Light, that was a bad movie. A very bad movie. That's why they bribed you with a free card [/probablynottrue].

Did you know there was another movie in 2010 (Japan)/2011 (US)? It was awesome. And by awesome, I mean pretty bad. And by pretty bad, I mean pretty awesome. It also bribed you with a free card.

I just want to briefly touch on the synopses added in the beginning by 4Kids, to (re)familiarize people with the characters. I found Jaden's synopsis to be a bit lacking. Probably they didn't have enough time to include, "He then was forced to examine the consequences of his actions, was consumed by the darkness of his own soul, and rose above it before joining his spirit with a living embodiment of revenge, hatred, and twisted love". Either that or they didn't think it was important.

And before you ask, I just described Season 3 of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

 

[Furbyz]

Rugrats the movie was fairly well received by the critics. The problem isn't adults not getting things that were made for children, but that film studios turn everything they touch that was once beloved into s**t. I thank god daily that Marvel just decided to make movies themselves before a leech like Micheal Bay or Brent Ratner decided that the avengers had to stand around doing bugger all whilst the US military fills up 90% of the screen.

Also remember that 99% of movies adapted from kids TV were just 30 minuet commercials, love projects like the Cartoon Cartoons didn't have enough mass appeal to get to the big screen or bombed when they did (Who even remembers the Powerpuff girls movie?)

EDIT: Spongebob Squarepants the movie also received a decent reception, well deserved too, it was easily a better adaptation that The Simpsons Movie.

Sir, I remember and love the Powerpuff Girls movie. Mojo Jojo is a baller and the game of tag has never been so destructive.